C — — Jonas Valanciunas, Raptors: No other player here looked to have the - breakout potential of the - 21-year-old Lithuanian center, who is entering his 2nd season. Valanciunas dominated smaller, weaker competition in the - post, yet he moreover displayed a versatile offensive game complete with a nice passing touch, textbook pump fakes & the - ability to complete with both hands. He ranked in the - top five in scoring (18.8 points) & rebounding (10.0) & played savvy, consistent interior defense. The fifth pick in the - 2011 draft received our unofficial vote for summer-league MVP.

kicking himself for being so emotionally invested
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Join Date: Dec 2007

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It's summer league, so everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Big time summer league performers don't correlate too well with big time NBA performers.

With that said, more important than his solid numbers (19/10) were his improved skillset (unstoppable 1-on-1 vs weak summer league defenders, great free throw shooting, much improved strength and physique) which have a better chance to translate to the NBA. I'm impressed - Valanciunas is showing the big improvement he needs to to continue on his very promising trajectory (he could be a better, more complete version of Tyson Chandler).